Dear Mother,I love you.You are a wonderful mother. Thank you so much for the overflowing love and support you give me. No one will ever support me like you do. You are a strong and smart woman. I learn so many things from you. I don't know what I'll become without you.You are also very pretty and funny. It's what we have in common hahaha, just kidding.You might not know this, Mother but I always support you in every path you take and decision you make. We might not be the best nor happiest family on earth but Allah has given the best family for us.You are every breath I take. Happy birthday, Mama.

Life has been good to me lately. I got a chance to go out of Indonesia, leave my comfort zone, and live in South Korea. Adapting in new places is never been easy especially when you have felt so comfortable at home. However, everything's changing because of the fact that everyone is growing up and getting ready to face new challenges in life; so I need some changes as well.

Everyone is leaving when I left. They will not be in the same place when I get back. That means I have to adapt one more time even when I'm home.

To be honest, living in Seoul is great. Despite the fact that wherever you go you will always find people staring at you because you're a foreigner but the greatest thing about Seoul is I feel safe here. Even though I can't speak the language and barely know the alphabets

The bad thing about Seoul is that it's getting colder and colder. I never expect to meet winter twice in a year but -surprise surprise- I just have to deal and be grateful for that. At this very moment, I thought I probably have the best year of my life yet sometimes I want to skip this part to see what future holds.

It's just so easy to be an ungrateful bitch.

Especially when you don't know what you're doing and where you're going.But you know I'm just gonna shut up and enjoy the last 24 days in Seoul.

I felt like taking a stroll earlier. It's not that cold outside. So I got out of subway station and walked. I passed the bus stop, looked at the people inside the bus and I smiled and hid it so they wouldn't think that I'm a weirdo. I walked and walked. Enjoy every moment of cold breeze on my face. I put some lip balm to make sure my lips wouldn't be so dry. I walked in slow pace and turn left at the park because I've never been there. There were only two ahjussi talking and sipping their coffee. They didn't stare at me because they sat too far to notice that I'm a foreigner in their prosperous country. I kept walking and looking at the statue in the middle of the park. I think he's a general or something, the lights make him so dramatic and heroic. I didn't stop walking but I couldn't take my eyes off him.From afar I saw a man and a woman passed the street. They walked side by side. 'They must be husband and wife', I let myself thought that way. Then the man stopped and stared at me. 'Yes I'm a foreigner now stop staring at me' I held that thought in my head. When I got closer to him, he started to run towards the woman. 'Oh how sweet the husband runs just to walk beside his wife' my lips began to form a smile. The woman hit him, ran away, and kept looking at behind her. 'Holy crap' is the only word in my mind when I passed the man. I started to walk faster and faster until I was ahead of the woman. I kept looking behind me, make sure that the guy didn't run and catch me. As I walked faster, I felt the urge to run. 'Run, Asty. RUN!' 'Why should I run? He's far behind me' I had this conflict of thoughts inside my head and I looked behind me and I could see the guy, he was far from me but not far enough. So I walked faster and started to run while Ronan Keating's If Tomorrow Never Comes was played on my music player. I ran as fast as I could. At that moment, I couldn't think of anything. All my burdens somehow disappeared. I could feel the cold air on my face and I realized 'this is one of the happiest moment of my life'. When I stopped, I laughed by myself. No one was around me. The only thing in my mind is 'I feel so alive and free'.

That was how I spent my Saturday night before I write this post and I'm gonna admire how beautiful the moon is while drinking ice chocolate afterwards.and for those who don't know, I'll give you a little information about what's going on in my life: I'm currently living in the capital of South Korea and no, it won't be forever. I shall return to my beloved tropical country very soon. Let's stop talking about leaving or I will start to cry. and I might change my blog URL. But I don't know.

Norway is very special in my heart but you know what I remember the most about people in Norway?Children with Winter Clothes

You know, there is no winter in Indonesia so it was my first time to experience the snow. Basically, I didn't know anything about snow and winter stuffs before but now I know for sure my favorite thing in winter is seeing the children with their winter clothes! I mean can you imagine they are so little but they have to wear thick clothes that are bigger than themselves? It's not like I'm a pedophile or what, it's just they're SO cute that I want to bring them in my pocket everywhere I go (I do sound like a pedophile, right?)

and also, Norwegians are TALL and pretty and handsome and TALL(I said it twice to stress that they're really TALL)First, you have to know that even in Indonesia, 158 cm is not tall. Now I have to go to the place where Troll is very famous! I cannot compete with their height so I keep in mind that short is the sign of cuteness. Right? RIGHT? Please say yes so I can keep being proud for being 158 cm.

If being tall is not enough, I have to say thatNorwegians walk really fast.I mean REALLY REALLY fast. For this one, I gave up. I have nothing to say to defend myself.People said that it's because of coldness so they walk like in hurry to go inside plus it makes their body warmer. I guess it's true.It's just I'm used to walk really slow and relax because it is HOT in Indonesia so if you walk fast it becomes HOTTER. So we stay calm, well, not really. But hey, I just defended myself :p

Special ones: ISFiT friends, Host Family, and somebody I used to teach!

Remember what I said about the cold lunch? Well, my favorite people in Human Dignity workshop made my hunger go away and lunch break became one of my favorite time between our dialogues and discussions because that was the time when everyone played songs from their countries and the other people could dance. LIKE. CRAZY. An hour break was never enough, I tell you.

I feel so blessed to get to know them for ten days and have them for the rest of my life. If you ask me what I have got from participating in ISFiT 2013, I'd love to answer that I got FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, INSPIRATION, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES, and LOVE. I also had a great host family! Hansen family provided me with the comfiest bed and best breakfast ever! They did take care of me very well. I got a lovely room mate too, Yuna! It really felt like home where it's warm with love (and heater too). Getting new friends won't make me forget the old ones. Spending time with my favorite ex student (who is the first Norwegian I know) while I was there was such an amazing experience too because we got to talk, share, and discuss about everything! I could say that he spoiled me very much and I cannot thank him enough for everything!

As I said before, Norway will always have a special place in my heart and this lyrics from the Smashing Pumpkins really express what I feel...

What happened in Norway has become a part of me now and I think I have left a piece of me there. To tell you, I might be not the same person as before I went to Norway and if you don't notice it, it's okay, at least I feel it in myself.

For some people in my closest circle, they might be bored to hear all I could say it's Norway this ISFiT that blablabla but they have to know that it doesn't mean I cannot accept the fact that it was over for a month already or they think I'm cocky and showing off things because I've been abroad.

I found so many simple happiness there, is it wrong to reminiscing things that make you happy?

So here I am, writing posts about Norway to share that what truly makes me happy is not that I went abroad or what. It's simply because of the people and experiences and lessons I've never imagined I could have and I'm very grateful for that.

I went to two cities in Norway, Trondheim and Oslo. I spent most of my time in Trondheim since there was where ISFiT took place.

Trondheim is a beautiful city, very quiet, calm, and cold of course. I didn't go to some of the famous building in Trondheim. For example, I didn't get the chance to come inside the Nidaros Cathedral and I only saw Tyholt Tower from afar. Boooo Asty!

Buuuuuutt... I did go to some other interesting places I've never expected to be! Like, on Valentine's Day, me and my friend from South Korea (Hello, Eunbi!) walked to the city center and just took a random bus and got off at random bus stop. We got lost for sure but we had the chance to go and see the other side of town, especially seeing the neighborhood and houses in Trondheim! We love it very much until I realized where we were, it was an area called Bakklandet. We found a nice cafe, called Antikvariatet which is a recommendation from a very good friend of mine (Hello, J!). We had hot chocolate to make our body and heart (HA!) warm. That was the best Valentine's day moment I've ever had in twenty one years of my life!

If you ask me where is the place I like the most in Trondheim (go on... ask me), I will answer... Hogwarts No, I mean NTNU building! But it really looks like Hogwarts, you see the first picture from the left? Can you imagine how cool that is?!

hmmm... where else? I love being in Stundentersamfundet, indeed!

and the most comfortable place? Hansen family's house in Tiller.

While Oslo, from my personal point of view, is more alive and plural. There are a
lot of museums which I'd love to visit but since the only thing I didn't
have is time so I didn't explore Oslo much. You can boo me, once again. Well that means I have to come back right?

So, I spent my first day in Oslo, mostly with my blankets. It was snowing outside so I decided to stay and marked the day as my lazy day but because I didn't like to be alone, I asked my friend to make it OUR lazy day.

In the second day, we got up early and I was so ready to explore Oslo! First, we went to Vigelandsparken for sure, just like any other tourists in Oslo. Later, I explored city center by myself and I'm glad I could survive and I'm sure my parents would be so proud of me :''')

Please, please, please do not ask me about Munch Museum! But I'm gonna tell you anyway... I did not go there. Go on, boo me for the third time. It was closed at that time! I was so broken hearted when I found out about that.

So my friend and I went to Norwegian Folk Museum then once again my heart broke into pieces because when we got there it was already closed.

We had plan C. We spent our evening analyzing a painting in Nasjonalgalleriet and had coffee afterwards. Then we ended our day by enjoying windy night outside the Opera House. Oh I just had a perfect day. Even though we cancelled our plan to go to Grønland (boo for the fourth time).